Why Leicester probably won’t take a gamble on Philippe Coutinho

The links between Philippe Coutinho and Leicester City never seem to dwindle. The Barcelona winger is considered “out of favour” in Spain, and the prospect of rekindling his relationship with Brendan Rodgers — after their time together at Liverpool, is something the media have enjoyed speculating about.

For more than one reason, I think this deal is very unlikely to happen. It would take some fairly farfetched circumstances for Philippe Coutinho to join Leicester City, and I honestly don’t see them happening.

Initially, Coutinho isn’t the correct profile of winger for the Foxes. In the current market, they’re looking for left-footed right-wingers (for example, Cengiz Ünder) to help bolster the attacking options — whereas the Brazilian is the complete opposite — a right-footed left-winger. Within the current Leicester City squad, Harvey Barnes is a certain starter and fits this exact profile perfectly.

So, purely from a footballing perspective, this deal doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Unless of course you shift Coutinho centrally, but even then, with the likes of James Maddison — and perhaps Youri Tielemans slightly further forward with additions to the midfield pivot — the space for minutes as a surplus number 10 is seemingly thin.